


build her up from feathers and bones

by starwalks (stardusting)



Series: fine feathers, finer birds [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 08:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8279294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardusting/pseuds/starwalks
Summary: Mother lives in a perfect life with a perfect house and a perfect new husband and has perfect friends. Nagi doesn’t fit into this equation of perfection. She feels like a cuckoo chick or a changeling child, taking the place of someone else that should actually be here.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i heard you guys enjoyed bird bones so here's something set in the same verse but surprise it's about chrome because i love her.

Nagi is hit by a truck when she is 14 trying to save a cat.

It is a miracle she is alive, a wondrous thing the doctors and nurses tell her while she still relies on a machine to breathe and spends the entire time staring at white walls or gazing out the large window.

Her bird bones, though hollow, are stronger than the average persons. Her ribs though broken, still protected the important things that needed protection. They tell her that she would have died if she was younger or even an average human, or been much closer to death at the very least.

It’s a scary thought to think about, the fragility of her body and the mortality of her person. So she thanks her hollowed bones and the father that gifted them to her even though she has not seen him years.

* * *

Her mother doesn't visit anytime she is in the hospital during the intensive recovery.

Nagi is not surprised by this fact, but that does not mean it hurts any less to see an empty chair at her bedside each day.

* * *

Her wings were in the developmental stage when she was hit, half the size they should have been with small bursts of plumage peeking through feathered down. They had a year of growing left to do, maybe less. Female wings always developed faster and sooner than males did, at least that’s what her biology class taught her.

"We did all we could." The doctor tells her, eyes filled with the type of sincerity that only a Winged can have for another of their kind at what is about to be said. "Too many delicate bones were shattered during and after the hit when you rolled. Your wings will heal but they'll be crooked and small and won't be able to carry you. You won’t be able to fly."

Nagi doesn't say anything, just nods and stares at her hands where they are grip like vices to the fabric of her hospital gown. She has never been one for words and she knows they won't help now, not when she can’t even find a breath to breathe in properly.  

"If you'd like," the doctor continues as kindly as he can. "we could remove your wings. All your bones have hollowed out properly by now so there won't be any negative effects even if they aren’t fully developed."

"No." It is her mother that speaks immediately after, voice cutting harsh like a knife and Nagi resists the urge to flinch. She’s only here because of obligation and not affection, Nagi didn’t expect her to actually to have an opinion on what’s being said right now, mother has no wings and does not care for the people that do after all. "I don't want to waste any more money. She can keep her wings even if they are useless."

The doctor is the type of silent that's concerned and thinking. He gives Nagi a look when she lifts her head up because it is her rightful choice, her body and her wings. How kind of him to think she even has one with her mother around.

She exhales a breath, and gives a smile that’s small and defeated. "I'll keep them." Voice soft as a whisper, and that’s that.

* * *

Nagi knows her mother's secret as to why she let her daughter keep her broken, broken wings.

Sins of the father is so archaic a term, but Nagi knows her mother and father's divorce was a messy one that did something to her mother's movie star reputation and left her with a child that looks exactly like him.

Nagi remembers her father's wings, bright and large and so, so strong. He'd take her flying when mother was away, sun gleaming off his blue feathers, a near blinding light. She was young and happy. They both were happy.

When he left and Nagi started sprouting blood and bone from her shoulders, mother was upset in more ways than one. Said of course _his daughter would inherit his mutant genes_ and sipped angrily at her wine while watching her daughter with hawk eyes as Nagi tried not to get blood and feathers on the floor.

She said they'd get the wings removed when they grew in completely. Said everyone who wants to look normal does it and that Nagi didn’t need anything that would make her stand out.

But Nagi had plans then, she'd fly off before that could happen when her wings were finally strong enough to take her someplace else. She’d fly until they ached and then she’d land some place where the people were sincere and didn’t mind her having wings.

But now her wings are crooked, little things, a reminder of her too kind heart and that she's a bird in a gilded cage.

* * *

When Nagi's wings finish growing they're lovely and iridescent, flash from blue to purple depending on the light and her movements. The girls at school with wings simple and tawny look at her with a sort of envy and she ducks gazes and tries to ignore the whispers that trail behind her.

Her mother sneers and Nagi keeps her wings covered at home and out of her mother’s line of sight. It only stunts their growth more, but it doesn’t matter since they’re stunted regardless. Nagi is used to hiding pieces of herself to make her mother less angry, to make people look over her rather than right at her. She tries to cover all her imperfections so no one knows that they’re there.

She covers her eyepatch with her hair and her slight limp by taking smaller steps and her scars with longer clothes. It’s not a lot but at least people don’t spare her second glances and her mother doesn’t always sneer when they look at each other.

Mother lives in a perfect life with a perfect house and a perfect new husband and has perfect friends. Nagi doesn’t fit into this equation of perfection. She feels like a cuckoo chick or a changeling child, taking the place of someone else that should actually be here. Sometimes she thinks that she has a twin that’s out there somewhere, someone that would fit better into this perfect life, much better than she would at least.

But no one comes knocking at their door claiming relation, so Nagi tries either way to be perfect, to appease her mother because what else can she do?

A caged bird can sing but she won’t be freed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are 100000% appreciated. The continuation of this should be up sometime this weekend. I just really wanted to get this out before i lost the idea for it and still have to work out how i'm going to work out the other parts!


End file.
